Aperture fever ?

[cotterless45]

I note that 16" is the new 12" and that 20" is the new 16". It is amazing that for under 1.5k that a 16" truss dob may be obtained from ES.

However I can see certain disadvantages , such as transporting. You would hardly want to hire a camper van to find your beast wouldn't go through the door.

Is there any benefit from the edge of town with vast aperture ? It's very tempting, especially when my trips to dark sites show wonderful things in my tiny 10",

Nick.

[Donkeiller]

The cure for "aperture fever" is a 'scope over 8".

I started off with a 80mm refractor and gradually moved up collecting a 102mm refractor, a 6SE, then an 8SE.

You know what the smallest 'scope (102mm) gets by far the most use.

Can't be bothered getting out the bigger ones and waiting for cooldown.

[estwing]

With your vast experience Nick a 16" truss would be exploited to its full potential...and you'd have to re-write all those logs har har!

[jetstream]

These new dobs are great for the astro community,opens many doors.With your great observing ability Nick one of these things would be fun for you,just point or star hop around,finding so much.My 10" shows much more than my 90mm from light polluted skies(or from anywhere) so its possible the extra aperture would benefit light sky folk.Once more experience is gained I will get a bigger,transportable dob of some sort-but the key is transportable-and that ES truss does look portable.

I can only imagine your fantastic reports if you were using a 20" dob!  

[nmoushon]

Jumping from a 10" to either a 16" or 20" is a huge improvement on light gathering. Either in your garden at the edge of town or at a dark site. I think it would be well worth it. Now whether your 10" at a dark site will compare to a 16" in your garden I'm not sure. I've never owned something with that large of an aperture. But If you are going to have a hard time transporting it to a dark site or even it being a pain to set up in your garden then how often are you going to use it?  And if that is not often then I dont see the worth of spending that kind of money. But on that note I have seen some large dobs that have been design as "portable". That being they can be taken apart and re-assembled very quickly and fit in the trunk of a car. Not sure what the price is for those but something to consider.

[Mike73]

I note that 16" is the new 12" and that 20" is the new 16". It is amazing that for under 1.5k that a 16" truss dob may be obtained from ES.

However I can see certain disadvantages , such as transporting. You would hardly want to hire a camper van to find your beast wouldn't go through the door.

Is there any benefit from the edge of town with vast aperture ? It's very tempting, especially when my trips to dark sites show wonderful things in my tiny 10",

Nick.

Times are changing Nick for sure and these new ES dobs are a whole new ball game compared to the giant 16" LB's and 400P's. I've never seen a 16" ES but my guess is that its very similar to say a 12" to lug around which if you have average fitness isnt really too bad.

As for edge of town observing with something like the ES then to be honest I'm sat on the fence on that one......If you can find a way to move it easily when its fully assembled then yep its worth it, just wheel it out of your shed and start observing no cool downs no trouble but if you have to set up a truss dob every session for a quick couple hours observing then it gets pretty boring pretty quick! ( I tried it last winter which is why I'm getting a solid tube aswell.)

[kerrylewis]

'Hire a camper van and not get it through the door' - to whom are you referring sir?!

[estwing]

These new dobs are great for the astro community,opens many doors.With your great observing ability Nick one of these things would be fun for you,just point or star hop around,finding so much.My 10" shows much more than my 90mm from light polluted skies(or from anywhere) so its possible the extra aperture would benefit light sky folk.Once more experience is gained I will get a bigger,transportable dob of some sort-but the key is transportable-and that ES truss does look portable.

I can only imagine your fantastic reports if you were using a 20" dob!  

20"?!!...don't give him any more thoughts Gerry!

Times are changing Nick for sure and these new ES dobs are a whole new ball game compared to the giant 16" LB's and 400P's. I've never seen a 16" ES but my guess is that its very similar to say a 12" to lug around which if you have average fitness isnt really too bad.

As for edge of town observing with something like the ES then to be honest I'm sat on the fence on that one......If you can find a way to move it easily when its fully assembled then yep its worth it, just wheel it out of your shed and start observing no cool downs no trouble but if you have to set up a truss dob every session for a quick couple hours observing then it gets pretty boring pretty quick! ( I tried it last winter which is why I'm getting a solid tube aswell.)

...I never got bored of setting mine up mike...on either occasion!!!!!

[AndyWB]

Okay, so my experience is limited, and I can't compare at those apertures, but I find on faint fuzzies from in town my 10" doesn't entirely thrill compared to the 5". Now, I live in a lot of light pollution (Purple zone), but I think the problem is one of contrast - with that much LP, there simply isn't the contrast (unless it's REALLY clear), and more aperture doesn't seem to help with that much. It's slightly better - but marginal. I've taken to mostly using the 5" in town due to the faster setup and cooldown.

It is, however, better on the things that cut through LP, like planets. But Galaxies - not so much, I'm still not convinced.

Somewhere dark, well, the 10" casually blows the 5" away.

But that could be down to my light pollution - if yours is better, results may vary.

[AlexB67]

If ES sold bags of dark skies that would be the best invention instead of these bigger Dobs.

A bag of Bortle 1 80 pounds for 24 hours.

A bag of Bortle 2, 60 pounds for 24 hours. 

etc.

I'll be right there buying  ,

It would even turn a 10 inch into quite a serious galaxy eating machine. Judging by some of the sketches of what some people can see in a 10 inch scope form a truly dark site is astonishing. Thankfully, touch wood I have the weather on my side this year and get to sample some of that gold status dark skies stuff  in around late August early sept this year for my yearly trip and I'll get to see that. so far my couple of visits  to so so dark skies outside of town  due to pants weather has not even allowed me to fully appreciate what 10 inches of aperture can do. 

I ain't got aperture fever, I do have I want dark clear sky fever

[LukeSkywatcher]

'Hire a camper van and not get it through the door' - to whom are you referring sir?!

Yeah, i resemble that remark too.

[kerrylewis]

Yeah, i resemble that remark too.

It caused a certain amount of amusement at SGL9 that despite hiring a camper van the size of the average terrace house I couldn't get my Dob through the door!

The case for the defence:

1. When I hired the van I didn't even own the Dob - this alone should secure a 'not guilty' verdict

2. The weather forecast was iffy or I might have tried to get it through the passenger door- gentlemen of the jury you only have my word for this.

3. The company changed the van from the one I booked - yes I know, clutching at straws

[bingevader]

I'm hoping to retire to a modest 12" dob in the country. Should be plenty of room for me and the missus. 

[LukeSkywatcher]

It caused a certain amount of amusement at SGL9 that despite hiring a camper van the size of the average terrace house I couldn't get my Dob through the door!

The case for the defence:

1. When I hired the van I didn't even own the Dob - this alone should secure a 'not guilty' verdict

2. The weather forecast was iffy or I might have tried to get it through the passenger door- gentlemen of the jury you only have my word for this.

3. The company changed the van from the one I booked - yes I know, clutching at straws

I believe you. Thousands wouldn't. 

My 8 inch scope "Mick" has cured my aperture fever. I started off with a 90mm refractor,moved up to a 130mm Dob and finally settled on the 8se (A.K.A. Mick). 

I did also buy a 70mm refractor somewhere along the line, but that was for the sole purpose of taking with me on my travels and for solar observing.

[cotterless45]

Kerry Lewis.

Guilty as charged ! You will be taken from here to another place and be forced to buy a much bigger scope !

Old Nick.

[John]

One cure for aperture fever is, having seen and used larger scopes, knowing that owning one would be entirely impractical proposition given ones home observing constraints, in my case having to store my scopes in the house and having a fair amount of light pollution, tall trees and neighbours houses and lights to contend with. I'd add to that my strong preference for being able to get a scope setup / torn down within a few minutes and that it should be reasonably readily movable around the garden to make the most of the gaps between said houses / trees etc.

My 12" Orion Optics based dobsonian is the largest scope that I can practically own and operate in my circumstances. If they were different I would have a larger aperture one in a trice. As has been said, large aperture is relatively affordable today.

The scope did prove useful at the SGL9 star party though, despite it's limited aperture, because in the cloud gaps on the Friday night we were able to quickly pick up a dozen or more nice objects

[Alien 13]

I am going the other way started in the 60s with a big newt but am finding my current scope still to big and heavy a nice 60mm borg might fit the bill.

Alan